Member Article

Could a new breed of publishing be the answer to better control of ebook content?

Following reports that self-published ebooks containing sexual and violent acts have made it onto the online stores of several major retailers, one co-operative publisher is calling for more accountability from publishers, even suggesting that there should be ’blacklists’ or fines for publishers releasing offensive content.

Mindy Gibbins-Klein is the founder of Panoma Press, which is known as a ‘co-operative publisher’. Whilst authors do contribute to the costs of publishing their books (similar to traditional self-publishing) what Panoma Press offers is markedly different to the automated processes often associated with this type of publishing. She heads up a professional team which includes sales people, marketers, publicists, editors, designers and proof readers.

Every book which passes through the Panoma Press door is vetted and the team spends considerable time with individual authors during the publication process. It also means that there is no chance of any offensive material slipping through the net.

Having helped over 500 authors to write and publish their books and ebooks since opening the doors of her publishing house in 2005, Ms. Gibbins-Klein is concerned that the recent outcry over self-publishing content could negatively affect the hard work put in by thousands of self-published authors who are producing good quality, respectable content. She is calling for self-publishing operations to take on more responsibility for controlling the content that they put out the the public, and that action be taken if they fail to uphold this.

Ms Gibbins-Klein says:

“I personally believe that people should not be able to publish ebooks for public sale without it being reviewed or vetted in some shape or form. I appreciate that this is a laborious task for some of the self-publishing machines that currently exist in the marketplace, but perhaps this is a sign of why more needs to be done to inject some human input and expertise back into the publishing process?

As a proper publisher, we get our books and ebooks into top bookstores and websites, and we wouldn’t tarnish our brand and reputation by releasing something that was inappropriate. If all publishers were made more liable for the content they released, rather than it just being a moral and ethical consideration, perhaps they would be more likely to spend more time looking at the books they were releasing.“

About Panoma Press

Panoma Press is a thriving co-operative publishing company based in St Albans, Hertfordshire. Specialising in business and personal development titles, Panoma Press (formerly Ecademy Press) has helped hundreds of authors to make their books a reality. Co-founded by international book coach Mindy Gibbins-Klein, Panoma Press is able to offer its authors an international platform of exposure and its books are currently represented in over 24 countries across the globe.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Panoma Press .